科學制造的美味

The late night munchies. We've all had them. And we've all given into them — sitting on the couch, watching a movie, and suddenly realizing we've eaten nearly an entire bag of chips. How did that happen?

午夜時分，你正坐在沙發(fā)上看著電影。突然，你意識到自己已經(jīng)吃了差不多一大袋薯片或薯條。我們可能都有過上述這樣的經(jīng)歷，這到底是怎么發(fā)生的呢?

Here's some food for thought (pun intended). What if we told you that a bag of chips is designed for exactly that purpose — for you to empty it without thinking?

這是因為薯片或者薯條等加工食品就是為了這個目的而設計的——讓你不假思索地消滅它。

Most of us won't take an entire chocolate cake out of the fridge and absentmindedly eat the whole thing, but chips and other processed foods are a different story. Why? It's all about something called the "bliss point."

我們中的大多數(shù)人不會把一整個巧克力蛋糕從冰箱里拿出來，毫不費力地吃完。但是薯片和其他加工食品則是另外一回事。為什么會這樣呢?這就要從所謂的“滿足點”說起了。

The bliss point of processed food is the point where food reaches the level of being as delicious as possible, yet not so satisfying that we don't want more. To take it back to the chocolate cake example, a chocolate cake will end up being sweet enough at some point that we'll feel satisfied and stop eating. With processed (or junk) food, however, we never really hit that "my taste buds are sated" level.

比如我們提到的那塊巧克力蛋糕，它最終會使我們感到太甜了，這樣我們會感到足夠滿意并停止進食。而加工食品則會達到一種盡可能美味的程度，但又不那么令你滿意，這樣一來，你就會一直感到意猶未盡并想要進食更多的加工食品。

How do food scientists formulate the foods we'll like the most?

那么科學家們是如何來做到這一點的呢?

The bliss point is a ratio of three nutrients our bodies are programmed to seek out: fat, sugar and salt. These three compounds trigger all 10,000-plus of our taste buds and send a message to the pleasure receptors of our brains that makes us think, "More! More!" Natural foods also have these three nutrients, but not in the perfect bliss point ratio where we don't feel satisfied. Science, however, has taken care of that.

讓我慢慢給你們解釋：“滿足點”其實是我們的身體想要的脂肪、糖和鹽這三種營養(yǎng)物質的比例。這三種化合物觸動我們的一萬多個味蕾，使其向我們大腦的愉悅感受器發(fā)出信息，讓我們想要“更多”。天然食物中當然也含有這三種營養(yǎng)物質，但是其比例不是讓我們想一直進食的完美“滿足點”。不過，科學已經(jīng)解決了這個問題。

Fat, sugar and salt all work together to make food taste better and make us want more. Fat gives foods like chips and crackers a smoother texture. Salt masks the chemical taste of processed food and is the cheapest spice around. Sugar hits the pleasure points in our brains and increases the shelf life of products. Food manufacturers can tweak the ratios of fat, sugar and salt, and then exhaustively taste test products until they reach the right bliss point with consumers. Bliss points determine a food's crave level, which in turn determines sales and profit.

脂肪、糖和鹽都可以使食物更加美味，讓我們想要進食更多。脂肪能讓薯條和餅干這樣的食物更加柔滑。鹽掩蓋了加工食品的化學味道，是最便宜的香料。糖會“擊中”我們大腦中的愉悅點。食品制造商會調(diào)整脂肪、糖和鹽的比例，然后用盡全力來測試產(chǎn)品，直到產(chǎn)品達到消費者們的“滿足點”。“滿足點”決定了我們對食物的渴望水平，這也就影響了食物的銷售和利潤。

One well-known example of bliss point research is Dr. Pepper soda. When attempting to formulate a new flavor, the company went through 61 formulas and 4,000 tasting events, which allowed their food scientists to continually tweak the recipe until they found the ultimate bliss point. The resulting soda was Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, one of the company's most successful products ever.

澎泉蘇打水就是一個充分利用“滿足點”的例子。當該公司試圖開發(fā)新口味時，他們使用了61個配方并進行了4000次品嘗活動，這使得他們的食品科學家能夠不斷調(diào)整配方，直到他們找到完美的“滿足點”。由此誕生的櫻桃香草味蘇打水也成為了該公司最成功的產(chǎn)品之一。